The Big News: Raw was good! Huzzah!

Show Analysis:

Randy Orton came out to start the show. He said that he was going to take out Batista for good, but Ric Flair had to intervene. Orton said that Flair never liked him much in Evolution because he was a threat to Triple H. He said that he kicked Flair in the skull just like the other members of Evolution and they will never have their retribution. He dared Flair to get in his business again.

Ric Flair joined Orton, and pointed out that Orton didn’t beat Batista but instead got himself intentionally disqualified. He said that Orton was the heir apparent in Evolution, but Batista blew by him. I like the attempt to tie in history here, but it’s harder to do when you don’t have long term planning seeing storylines through (remember Flair turned on Batista and helped HHH when Evolution dissolved).

Flair told Orton that he suggested to Vickie Guerrero that Batista wrestle Orton in a cage match at Extreme Rules and she made the match. Orton said Flair delivered that message, so he had a message for Flair to deliver to Batista. Somehow Flair couldn’t crack the code of that oh-so-subtle message and stood there grinning right before Orton punched him in the mouth and put the boots to him. Batista and Legacy joined the fray, with Legacy winning the numbers game. John Cena then made the save. Vickie Guerrero would make Cena and Batista vs. Legacy for the main event.

Kelly Kelly won a battle royal for a women’s title shot over Rosa Mendes, Beth Phoenix, Mickie James and the Bellas. Maryse (announced as “Maurice” by Michael Cole) did commentary. Even though there were only seven participants, they basically all jumped over the top as quickly as possible. Kelly eliminated Beth, leaving Kelly and Mickie as the final two. Maryse then sprayed something in Mickie’s eyes (Arrogance, perhaps?), and Kelly dumped Mickie to win. This was very sloppy.

Santino beat Chavo Guerrero in a really entertaining comedy match. Santino was so unbelievably awesome here. Just his entrance was absolutely hilarious as he shamelessly pandered to the crowd. He waved at the crowd, smiled, feigned humility, and shook the hands of the ring announcer and referee. Chavo worked over Santino, but Santino hulked up. He then made his comeback, but couldn’t believe that he was actually succeeding in executing these moves. Chavo finally charged into the turnbuckle and Santino covered for the pin. Chavo after the match said that Santina would defend her Ms. WrestleMania crown against Vickie Guerrero later in the show.

Miz came onto Maryse backstage. Maryse wasn’t having it. Elsewhere, Vickie was upset that Chavo made the match with Santina. Chavo said he had a plan. Orton came in, and was angry that Vickie made a cage match without consulting him. Vickie said she doesn’t need to consult with anyone. Orton replied that she needs to worry about staying on his good side.

The Colons beat Goldust and The Brian Kendrick. I laughed at Goldust as Kendrick’s partner, but man did it ever bury Kendrick that he couldn’t get anyone better than Goldust for a partner. Kendrick was pleased at first but then turned on Goldust basically immediately when Goldust wasn’t doing well. Kendrick tagged himself in and worked the rest of the match. Primo beat Kendrick with a springboard crossbody press.

Kendrick yelled at Goldust afterwards. Hornswoggle came in to help and they fought off Kendrick. This was kind of funny, but it’s that type of burial comedy that keeps everyone but the top few guys from getting over.

Miz came out acting like John Cena. He was awesome here. Miz is working so well as a singles heel with all the focus on him. The association with Cena is helping a lot too. He pointed out that Cena is terrified of him, and did a remix of a Cena rap. It was intentionally really lame. He concluded that it is Miz 5, Cena 0 and declared himself awesome.Jerry Lawler came in to make the save for Cena. He said that calling someone out isn’t a victory. Lawler called out Batista, Steve Austin, Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan to make the point. He said that if he wants a match with Cena he should see Vickie Guerrero. Miz said he would do just that, which brought out Big Show. Show said Miz will have to wait, because he is wrestling Cena in a submission match at Extreme Rules.

Miz said that he would wait until after Cena beats Show. He then ran away from an infuriated Show. Show took out his aggression on Lawler, who was gone for the rest of the show. Jim Ross filled in on commentary.

I thought for sure that they would have Cena or Show just destroy Miz here, but God bless them, they didn’t. So please, WWE, I’m pleading with you, let Miz keep his heat. Don’t bury this guy. It’s almost incomprehensible if you had thought about this going in, but Miz is clicking. You want new stars, and this sort of angle is precisely how you create a new star. Give this guy a chance to become a singles star. If you stay the course, it might work. But you can destroy it all in just one week, so please be careful. And as an aside, can we now say that splitting up Miz and John Morrison might not have been the dumbest thing WWE could have done after all? I’m looking at you, Dave and Bryan.

MVP beat Matt Hardy in a US Title match. The announcers sold that Vickie Guerrero might have given Matt this match as a reward for helping Edge at Judgment Day. Matt hit MVP in the knee with the cast and worked over the knee. MVP came back with balling and the playmaker for the pin.

Backstage, Ric Flair told Batista that he was going to call out Randy Orton next week. Batista didn’t want him to do that. An annoyed Flair said that he doesn’t want to be retired, that he can still do it, and that he’ll beat up Orton in a street fight. Clearly, they are at the very least planting the seeds for Flair returning. Personally, I think Flair returning is kind of like ending Undertaker’s streak. Maybe you can come up with a really great reason for doing it, but if you can’t, you lose a lot more than you gain by pulling the trigger.

Elsewhere backstage, Chavo Guerrero tried to get Vickie to jump off the couch onto him with a frog splash. Vickie was having second thoughts about the match, but Santina came in and said that the only way Vickie wins is if pigs can fly. An angry Vickie said she would do the match after all.

Vickie Guerrero beat Santina Marella to be crowned Ms. WrestleMania. Vickie slapped Santina, and Santina responded by kissing Vickie. Chavo announced the match would be no-DQ. Santina somehow couldn’t figure out what was going to happen, so she squared off with Vickie and allowed Chavo to jump her from behind. Santina fought off Chavo and dumped him over the top rope, but William Regal then came in. He laid out Santina with an exploder and running knee to the head, and Vickie covered for the pin. They played “So Hot” and Vickie danced and celebrated.

Batista and John Cena beat Legacy. The heels first worked over Batista, who eventually got the tag to Cena. Cena hit the five knuckle and FU on Rhodes, but Orton tagged himself in and went to work on Cena. Cena eventually got the tag to Batista. Batista came in with a power slam on Orton. Big Show came out and fought to the back with Cena, seemingly leaving Batista alone against three men. However, Ric Flair came down to help and Batista speared Orton for the pin.

Final Thoughts:

This was the first honest-to-goodness strong episode of Raw in quite a while. The comedy was much, much, much better than the WWE average, and the main angles throughout the show worked well too. WWE tends to build momentum towards pay-per-views, whether it’s positive or negative, so hopefully this portends well for what’s to come the next couple weeks. I’m crossing my fingers when it comes to Miz. They’ve got something here that came out of nowhere, and I really hope they don’t squander it.

Final Plugs:

I want to make mention of a number of things this week. First, I’m doing an 8-part series on UFC history leading up to UFC 100 at CBSSports.com. The first piece is on Royce Gracie, and I’ve got his thoughts on all the key points in his career. I think you’ll really enjoy it if you’re a fan of the sport. It’s located here:

http://www.cbssports.com/mma/story/11761069

Second, I’ll be on Alex Reimer’s radio show Thursday evening talking pro wrestling. You can check that out here:

http://mysportsradio.com/

Third, I’ll be on the Arkansas Radio Network with Shawn and Wally talking UFC 98 Thursday at 4:30PM Central/2:30PM Pacific. You can listen to that here:

http://www.sportsanimal920.com/

Finally, I’ll be in Vegas for UFC 98 this weekend and will be blogging on the weekend’s events at CBSSports.com. Okay, that’s it.

Todd Martin
ToddMartin4L@aol.com
toddwmartin.blogspot.com